It’s Season 15’s Finale Era

The time has come….to crown America’s Next Drag Superstar! Alec attended the finale taping and is spilling all the tea of who he talked to, sat by, and yelled for and Loni is thirsty for it. They Ruview every sickening look, performance, and of course that final Ruvealing lip sync. Plus, if you rewind, you can see a certain silver-haired someone pop his head over RuPaul’s shoulder before the showdown for the crown. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hello, Hello, Hello, and welcome back to another episode of
Squirrel Friends, the Official RuPaul's Drag Race Podcast. I'm Alec
Mamma here to introduce America's sister, the Queen of All
show Biz, Lonnie LoVa.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hello La the finale in fifteen.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Season fifteen finale, I went to the live taping and
I missed you.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Oh my goodness, Well where do I get you all
of that?

Speaker 4 (00:30):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yeah, Since this is the finale, we want to remind
people that this is it. We are going to talk
about the season fifteen finale, which Alec actually went to
the live taping, so we want to talk about all that.
We're going to talk about the looks, to the performances,
to miss congeniality, to Sasha Kobe being America's next drag superstar,

(00:52):
our Cup run.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
It's over this over.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
It's a lot to talk about, but you know what,
we're over it splashing all over me because I want
to get straight to it. Let's get this fifteen seconds
to say, all right, Squirrel Friends, it's time for fifteen
seconds to say. This is where Alec and I have
fifteen seconds to race and say all of our most
important thoughts and takes on a topic.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
Given to US fire producers.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Now, since it's the finale of season fifteen and we've
both done drag, yes, we're going to pretend that we
have to tell RuPaul why we deserve the crown and
the title of America's next Drag Superstar. Can you convince
Mama Ru to give you the cash? Alika, you are
up first, Ready set set.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
Hi, I'm Alec Mapa and I should be America's next
drag Superstar because drag is an x ray of the imagination.

Speaker 5 (01:40):
The imagination has no limits.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
You can take you wherever you want to go, and
I want to spread Drag's message of love and acceptance.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
You're good.

Speaker 5 (01:51):
Did I come in under the idea that was completely unrehearsed?

Speaker 2 (01:54):
I guess fourteen seconds that was pretty good? Okay, pretty
good before okay, my turn.

Speaker 5 (01:58):
Okay, here we go, Ready set, say, I.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Need to get that money because I don't need pads
and I already looked like.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
A drag star. I got the wigs. Give it to me.
I love you, I love drag. Get just give me
the damn money.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
You know what you had me convinced. It's kind of
like she has the shape she's got the hair.

Speaker 5 (02:27):
Just give her the money so she could find more hair.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Squirrel friends, if you have something that you want us
to say for fifteen seconds DM or messages your ideas
at Alec Mapa on Instagram or a comic Lonni Love
on Instagram and Lonnie Love on Twitter. So this is
why I'm trying to get to this, because Alex, you
went to the live tape and tell me everything about it.

Speaker 5 (02:49):
You have no idea. You have no idea.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
First of all, the seat that World of Wonder gave me,
I was in the center sixth row. I was in
the center sick throw and when I showed up, it
was like all of the cool kids, but the really
cool kids in the cafeteria in high school, but like
like the fun artistic kids. I mean, I'm talking Frankie Grande,

(03:14):
Daniel Francese. I saw Nicole Bayer, I saw ts Madison Carson,
Michelle Ross. Everybody was like right up close to me.
Did I say Nicole Buyer?

Speaker 3 (03:25):
I saw Vanessa Williams. You saw the Vanessa Williams. I
said hello to her.

Speaker 5 (03:30):
And this is this is how insecure I am.

Speaker 1 (03:33):
Monnie, I'm admitting a fault. I'm admitting an insecurity. I
go through life literally thinking nobody's gonna remember it ring,
you know, and so that I don't take it personally
because I know the minute I walked through this world
going I'm famous, I'm a celebrity, the universe is gonna
pull a rug from under me and go, no, you're not.
I'm gonna meet somebody at the red carpet behind the stanchion,

(03:56):
going and your name is with your name.

Speaker 5 (03:59):
But everybody was so lovely.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
I saw Patrick Starr, the makeup artist, and Jiglee Caliente
and we took a Filipino selfie all together because.

Speaker 5 (04:10):
We're all Filipino.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
And I saw Lady Camden and Angeria Paris vand Michaels
from last season.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
So what is like the energy?

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Is it like everybody's talking, everybody's dressed up.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
Well, you know, all the former queens are there, All
the queens from season fourteen were there, and then a
lot of former drag queens. I saw Morgan McMichaels and
James Mansfield and all those children. And the energy in
the room is that everybody belongs. There's like nobody is
the energy. I have to tell you, it's kind of like,

(04:43):
we're all there to kind of celebrate Rue, the mother
of the House of Love. So the energy in the
place was you're safe here and you're accepted here, and
nobody was a minority. It's kind of like I talked
last week, I got kind of serious about how drag
turned the social order upside down. So people who would
be considered in the social order the least, you know,

(05:05):
a black drag queen, or the effeminate kids, or the
transsexual kids, or people who their gender expression is different
from everybody else, he sits in common. They're all accepted.
It felt like walking into a big hug.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
It sounds like it felt like love. That's what it
felt like. I heard in Jerry's wig was as tall
as you.

Speaker 5 (05:24):
Yeah. Yeah, And jeryous wig was up there.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
She had a big Diana Ross wig that went high
above her head. And just the looks of everybody, especially now,
especially now, with all of the hate that's being spewed
towards the drag community and the transgender community, it felt
like a relief, Like, with all that's going on in

(05:47):
the world.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
It was nice to have a celebration. Did anybody mention
our podcast?

Speaker 3 (05:51):
Anyone?

Speaker 5 (05:52):
Actually they did.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
I met Stephen, who is Mistress Isabelle Brooks's best friend,
and he helps miss come up with her looks and
helps get her dress and said they both love the podcast.
I did have a lot of people come up to
me and want to take selfies, and they took selfies
with me and then would tell me that they love
squirrel Friends. Oh wow, so that's really cool, right. I mean,

(06:14):
now you just kind of do this podcast week after
week and never really have any sense of like anybody
out there listening, but they're listening, and it was lovely.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
It was just so you had great seats, The energy
was positive. Do you like the live taping aspect or
did you like it like when it was like a
little more intimate?

Speaker 1 (06:32):
All right, You and I both have the experience of
having seen lip syncs live right or performances live. So
you saw Denali do the Crystal Water song pure Love,
which is one of my favorite lip syncs, so you
could kind of tell us the difference between seeing that
live and seeing it on tape. I think what made

(06:52):
the live thing amazing was you're there as it's happening,
as it's happening, and you know taping's run you know,
they run for a while. I mean, if you go
to the Grammys, you're going to MTV Awards or anything
like that, you're there watching things happen in real time.
So that is exciting and to watch the performers kind
of feed off the energy of us in the audience.

Speaker 5 (07:15):
And also seeing the Queens get their flowers.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
Yeah, you know, seeing the Queens because they've been watching
it on television for the first time, Like we're watching
it because we have.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
To remember that they've been watching it and they really
haven't seen each other. I mean they probably they talk
to each other and anything. Yeah, but this is the
first time that everybody is together. So it's like a
massive This is like I would say the Big Game
for drag Race.

Speaker 3 (07:41):
This is it. This is the super Bowl.

Speaker 5 (07:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
When you film a reality show a year in advance
and then it's broadcast and then you see that people
have watched it, or you see that people have been
listening to the things that you say, or are quoting
things back to you, or you've you've created a catchphrase
that now everybody knows about it. It's fun to watch
the Queens have that moment where they're like, oh my god,
this is amazing.

Speaker 2 (08:04):
Now you've seen it on tape and you've also seen
it live. Yes, how did you feel seeing it live
versus seeing it on tape?

Speaker 3 (08:13):
Do you think?

Speaker 1 (08:14):
I think it was really exciting seeing it live. I mean,
I have to be honest. It's just kind of like,
you know, when the queens make their entrance. They said,
when Rue Paul makes her entrance live, it's literally like
a clap of thunder. And to see how she just
stands there and her presence, and also to watch her
be so good at being Rue Paul, reading the teleprompter,

(08:36):
being professional, And at one point Ruth said to everybody,
there's nothing to be nervous about. We're just in my
mama's living room. Let's all pretend I'm just in my
mom's living room and we're just cutting up. And Roue
had some sisters in the audience, his family really audience. Yeah,
So it was just kind of like and was always
referencing people in the audience, like saying hi to folks, hey, ts, hey,

(08:59):
you know. And then also in between things when they
had to hold for things, Ross and Michelle and Ts
and Carson would do trivia with the audience. Oh wow, Yeah,
ask trivia questions.

Speaker 5 (09:12):
About drag race and they would they were giveaways.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
So it was so much fun. And those are the
things you don't see.

Speaker 2 (09:18):
I heard the crowd was yelling let loose to Lucy.

Speaker 5 (09:22):
Yes they were.

Speaker 1 (09:23):
They were screaming everything at everybody, but especially Lucy Laeduca.
You know, we talked last week about how the reunion
was almost kind of rough on Lucy. You know, there
were a lot of confrontations and a lot of things
to iron out, but the audience really kind of cheered
for Lucy in a way that it looked like she
received their love. So there were some incredible Season fifteen

(09:47):
outfits and again to see these live was just incredible.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
You know what I would like, what do you want?

Speaker 2 (09:53):
I would like one day to actually and I think
they'll get there. To make it even grand is to
have a live finale.

Speaker 1 (10:02):
A live live finale like the Oscars or something that
would be bananas that.

Speaker 2 (10:08):
I mean, I'm pretty sure knowing RuPaul in the world
of Wonder, they will do a live take because that
is where you really would feel that energy in there.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
You've done live television, because I know that you've done
like coverage of the Red carpet for the Oscars and
all the award shows. Is there any part of you
that's like saying, oh, I can't say any bad words
like nervous about that.

Speaker 3 (10:32):
Well, the things that.

Speaker 2 (10:32):
You like about live is that it's just different, and
it's like, whatever happens happens.

Speaker 3 (10:37):
You can't take it back.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
You can't take it back. Have you ever had a
slip up live on air where you said I.

Speaker 2 (10:44):
Did like three seasons live of a talk show. It
was hilarious. So it's like, you know, it's really good,
but we're gonna get to the looks. I'm gonna take
a break because I'm gonna get some water because I
want to get some more of your info from that
live finale.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
Okay, we'll be right back.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
Ed where back Lonnie is completely hydrated. We almost had
a crisis situation going on here. She was like, I'm like,
beef jerky, I need water immediately.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
Honey, because this tea I was so thirsty. You know,
Oh my goodness, you've given all the tea. Alix I
love it all right, So let's get into this episode
Queen season fifteen.

Speaker 3 (11:28):
They walk out. Let's talk about these outfits.

Speaker 1 (11:30):
Alec I love this parade of queens every year because
it's like their curtain call, you know, it's like their
bow after their season. The first one up was Irene
Dubois from Seattle, and she wore a gown that I
can only describe as her She looked like if tinker

(11:51):
Bell had a fairy godmother. She had this green glitter
bodice and this marabou fringe going down, a very slim skirt,
green wings, a lime green feather headdress, and pixie ears,
and she's just looked magical. She was looked like somebody
from the Disney Electrical Parade, That's what it reminded me of.
Princess Poppy came out in a gown that was like

(12:14):
a drag version of Regina George.

Speaker 5 (12:16):
From Mean Girls.

Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yes, yes, remember when Regina George and Mean Girls gets
hit by the bus and she has to attend the
prom in kind of a neck brace halo. So like
she did the neck brace halo, but she covered it
and glitter rhinestones over a pink satin gown hire Larius.

Speaker 3 (12:34):
And that makeup was flawless.

Speaker 1 (12:36):
Flawless, flawless, platinum blonde wig, and you could tell the
audience got it.

Speaker 5 (12:41):
Right away, great sense of humor.

Speaker 3 (12:43):
Great camp. Oh this was my favorite look right here on.

Speaker 5 (12:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:47):
Sugar came out just as an angel, kind of an angel,
and her color palette was kind of like Elsa from Frozen.

Speaker 5 (12:55):
She had an ice blue wig that was.

Speaker 1 (12:57):
In a top knot like Ariana Grande, like a top pony,
and then she had these wings that spread it out
from her shoulders and kind of like a nude illusion
under this ice blue almost like see through material. And
she had little wings that went all the way down
to the bottom of the gown.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
And she did not come to play. She came to
make a statement.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
She did, she really did. I mean, Sugar was so
sweet in this gin. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:22):
Yeah. And she had these like almost like gossamer Kimbono
sleeves that she whenever she twirled around, her sleeves kind
of flew in the air. So she really did look
like an angelic vision. Amethyst came out in kind of
a pop princess outfit, a lah Britney spears. She had
a blonde wig that came up into almost like two

(13:43):
pigtails coming out of the side, kind of like a
lah Britney, and it was all pink and black. She
had layers of taffeta starting at her waist from pink
to black to pink to black, and then when she
took it off, she had like a pink and black
neud illusion catsuit that was kind of like what Rue
wore in the season six promos.

Speaker 5 (14:02):
I remember Panther on the Runway.

Speaker 1 (14:04):
If you google season six promos, you'll know what I'm
talking about.

Speaker 3 (14:07):
Next up, Oh so fierce, come on now.

Speaker 1 (14:11):
Beautiful, absolutely beautiful. She did a mermaid gown that was
in black and white, and the fish tail was all
kind of taffaa black that kind of spread out black
opera length gloves and her black hair just kind of
piled up into this chopd and jewels.

Speaker 5 (14:30):
Around her neck.

Speaker 1 (14:31):
I mean, she looked like radiant, like a queen.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
Oh just beautiful, just like just very operatic.

Speaker 1 (14:37):
Yeah, exactly like she was an opera singer, like an
opera diva. Ara Mayori came out in a gown that
almost looked like it was inspired by black lace lingerie.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yes, right, yeah, what the girls are wearing right now
that see through.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
The sea through gowns, so you could see her her
body through it. But she had a black and white wig.
A black and white sculpted wig. She was incredible, and
on her sleeves because Aura has these big biceps, but
they were camouflaged by these huge puffy sleeves that covered
her biceps and then kind of turned into a boa,
you know, around her. She also came out with a

(15:14):
giant fan and this got a huge ovation for the audience.

Speaker 3 (15:17):
Yeah, what was the fan? I didn't I couldn't see
what was on it.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
She opened up this giant fan and there was a
message written on it. It was a black fan and
written on it and gold was drag is not a crime. Wow,
because Aramiari is from Nashville, Tennessee, and Tennessee is where
they are now actively legislating to ban drag shows. And
we'll talk about that in a bit. But yeah, So

(15:41):
as a queen who's undergoing that right now, who's kind
of experiencing the discrimination from Tennessee, it was a really defiant,
badass thing to do.

Speaker 3 (15:50):
That was great. Up next is Jacks Okay, trend alert.

Speaker 1 (15:54):
Jackson is like the third queen to come out with
this ariana grande topknot you know, hi pony, everybody doing
this high pony.

Speaker 5 (16:01):
Now.

Speaker 1 (16:01):
Jackson's very game inspired, so she did this kind of
game inspired look all in denim. It was all geometric
shapes sprouting from her sleeves in her body, and it
was in denim trimmed in orange, and I was trying to.

Speaker 5 (16:15):
Look up and listen.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
I don't know what the kids are doing.

Speaker 5 (16:18):
I don't know anything about games or gaming.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
So I looked up Jacks because she said that Jack's
was her favorite video game character.

Speaker 5 (16:26):
Jacks doesn't look like this, but this was kind of like,
really cool.

Speaker 1 (16:29):
My only problem with this was I love it in
this picture, you know, it photographs well, but up on
stage against the other glitter queens, this kind of disappeared
for me.

Speaker 5 (16:40):
At bit having said that she looked gorgeous, she needed
to add.

Speaker 2 (16:43):
Some rhinestones and some little lah to the denim. That's
probably what it was, but it looks good.

Speaker 4 (16:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:50):
When Sasha Kolby did a denim shredded look earlier in
the season, it was studded and stoned so that it
really caught the light. My problem with this was I
love the shapes in it everything, but it absorbed all
the light on stage. It kind of got lost in
the denim. Next up, Spice came up the absolute opposite
of Sugar. Yeah, if Sugar was an angel, Spice was

(17:12):
a devil red satin gown and she had these long
red sleeves that clung to her and these kind.

Speaker 5 (17:20):
Of like remember when Gaga did those pointy shoulders coming out.

Speaker 1 (17:24):
So she had red glitter pointy shoulders that were like
Gaga like devil horns. And then she had a red,
scarlet red wig, and then her makeup had red embellishes.
She had the red red lipstick against a pale makeup,
and I believe she had red contact lenses and a trident.
She had that red glitter trident. So it was like

(17:46):
you you could say, it was like they the twins
had a bit. It's like, I'm going to be the
complete opposite, and this was beautiful.

Speaker 3 (17:52):
I didn't like this.

Speaker 5 (17:53):
You didn't like it? How come?

Speaker 2 (17:55):
I felt like Sugar's outfit was so much more construin. Yeah,
it looked expensive this one. It just that material.

Speaker 1 (18:05):
Just satin is a really tricky material to do well.
The fit has to be see what it was, Yeah,
and if you have satin and it's not done impeccably,
it you might look like party City. You know, there's
there's there's a party city possibility. I'm not saying that
what this is. There's stuff about this I appreciate. I'm
saying it, well, I appreciate the tailoring. But there's a

(18:26):
designer right now that's so hot that all the queens
are copying her. Her name is Eris Van Harpin, and
she does all of the kind of like cloudlike angelic
shapes that are on Sugar's gown. And so I think
the difference is Sugar was serving up more like fashion forward,
like what's happening right now seems kind of simple.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
Yeah, it was like a Halloween costume to me, That's
how I felt.

Speaker 5 (18:51):
But yes, up next Malaysia Baby Doll Fox.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
If you follow her on Instagram, she posted a video
in her stories that said that her gown was like
a red velvet ursula from The Little Mermaid and you
can see it here. It's a form fitting gown and
she has red velvet tentacles crawling up her bodice all
the way up to her shoulder and wrapping around her neck.

(19:16):
She has like a platinum ursula wig. And because she's
a makeup artist, the beat is flawless.

Speaker 3 (19:23):
Yeah, the beat matches the actual outfit. I just love this.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
It looks like an insect. It's the shape of an
insect that's crawling on her. Yes, it's an awesome dress,
it really is.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
And the thing about I think the Bigger girls, what
makes the Bigger Girls amazing this season is when you're
that size, when you're a bigger curl, the fit is everything,
the proportions are everything, and it's almost like you can't
get it wrong. Yeah, because if you get this wrong
as a bigger girl, it'll show.

Speaker 5 (19:55):
And the Bigger Girls delivered this season.

Speaker 1 (19:57):
I mean they did everything that what Urka calls portionizing.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
Well, you know, that's what the issue was with Selena
as titties was that some of her outfits were too loose.
And so she's already a bigger girl and then you
make it a loose or it's still fitty, right, it
doesn't look right. Whereas like this was perfect for you know, Malaysia.
She knew how to wear it and also it's okay

(20:23):
to add that covering of it. It just looks great.
The hair looks great, the makeup look great.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:29):
I like her taste level, I like her taste. So
everybody is really excited to see Malaysia baby doll fox.
And also you mentioned Selena as titties earlier about the
fet She also fell prey to the satin not looking
good on the runway if it's not done correctly. She
was clocked for having a satin gown that wasn't impeccably done. Now,

(20:50):
the person next up, Marsha Marsha. Marsha did do a
red satin gown that was an A line fifties silhouette,
you know, like Missus Cleaver, you know how this dresses
from the fifties at Sandra d war Debbie Reynolds, And
it almost looked like ballet slippers, like the red shoes.
And then she had this round almost like red nylon

(21:11):
hat and a scarlet ribbon around her neck, and it
was almost like she was an ingenue from the nineteen fifties,
and she looked very pretty.

Speaker 5 (21:19):
I thought it was very on brand.

Speaker 3 (21:21):
It was cute.

Speaker 5 (21:22):
It was very cute.

Speaker 2 (21:23):
But the reason why that satin works is because she
had the skirt, the puff skirt up under so it
smooths it out and it's not you can see it.

Speaker 1 (21:34):
There's no wrinkles in everything. And also, you know, like
I said, it's a very unforgiving fabric. If it's if
the tailoring isn't impeccable, if the fit isn't impeccable, it's
gonna pucker, it's gonna look baggy, it'll go all wrong.
But Marcia, Marsha and Marsha got it all right. Now,
is this was it as spectacular as the other looks? No,
but it was on brand and it looked beautiful on her.

Speaker 5 (21:55):
Yeah, it did all right.

Speaker 1 (21:57):
Next top Selena As did coming out in a pink
and purple King Signia dress. Now that's pretty big in
the Latina culture here in Los Angeles. The girl's fifteenth
birthday is like her debut ball. It's like yes debutante.
And they had these spectacular gowns. If you ever go
in downtown La, you see these gowns in the window.

(22:21):
She had these giant shoulders and a huge rose around
her waist and flowers all over the front like she
looked like like a kin Signia parade float from the
Tournament of Roses. When she turned around, the dress looked
like a Kinsennira cake with a slice cut out of it.

(22:42):
There was so much humor in this, so much not
to her own culture.

Speaker 2 (22:47):
So on stage when she turned around, how was the reaction?

Speaker 1 (22:51):
Well, first of all, when she came out in the
Kinsignia dress in Los Angeles and DTLA, we all know
about that culture. Everybody went bananas, I'm sure. And then
when she turned around and did the reveal to have
the cake cut out of it, a big cake slice
cut out of it, and you can see the layers
of like, you know, dark pink to light pink with

(23:12):
frosting in between. Hilarious, people like cheered even louder.

Speaker 3 (23:16):
What type of cake do you think that was?

Speaker 1 (23:19):
I don't know, like a pink sponge, strawberry pink sponge,
a pink sponge strawberry cake with pink funfetti.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
I just want to remind people, this is camp this
is what drag is too crazy, he's being campy like this,
and that's what she brought. And she also brought her
culture into it, which was really great.

Speaker 1 (23:38):
And what's great about Selena as titties is with every
look that she's done, whether you like them or not,
she's telling you exactly who she is and what she
brings to the stage. And her energy was was so beautiful.
It was great to see her there and it was
great to see her be appreciated. And again seeing these
queens because they work so hard, you know that. It's
like they come out to the clubs, they do these

(23:59):
gigs for no more, for so long, and the only
thing driving you is your passion, you know, sometimes that's
all you have. So to see them get this reward
and this acknowledgement is so moving and so lovely. Next
up lucy A Laduka. Now she did another kind of
black lingerie inspired gown, but she had a like an

(24:20):
exoskeleton on the outside. She had like almost like a
lime green yellowish skeleton ribcage on the outside. She had
like vampire makeup on, like spooky Halloween makeup, and.

Speaker 5 (24:33):
Then a Dracula.

Speaker 1 (24:35):
She looked like Dragula and her hair went up like
Gary Oldman's did in Bromstroker's Dracula, remember that.

Speaker 3 (24:42):
Movie, and Franks.

Speaker 1 (24:44):
Nin Frankes said, going up. But she did this thing
in the crown of her head where it looked like
the top of her head had been chopped off. So
when she bowed, you saw her brain exposed.

Speaker 3 (24:56):
That's what that was.

Speaker 1 (24:57):
Yeah, Yeah, So it was a little spooky, but I
think it was like there was somebody who posted a
meme on Instagram that said, this season.

Speaker 5 (25:06):
Broke Lucy Lduca.

Speaker 1 (25:07):
She started out as Barbie and to shut her first look,
and she ended up as Dragula. But it was kind
of like, I think it was her going, well, if
you're not gonna put me on the top four, I'm
still gonna make an entrance.

Speaker 5 (25:19):
So it was kind of gothy.

Speaker 3 (25:21):
Yeah, I like it. I liked it. It's creative and
it is different, so I like it.

Speaker 1 (25:26):
Yeah, yeah, Okay, of next, now we get to the
top four. This is where the audience really went bananas,
because Michelle always goes, now's your top four, right, And
also with all the queens, Michelle does a catch phrase
to introduce them. So when, of course, when a Nietra
makes her entrance, Michelle goes, you better walk that fucking deck, right,
And a Nietzchre came out in almost like a Japanese

(25:49):
inspired anime look. It had a black patent leather bodice
and the shoulders went up in two points, you know,
coming out.

Speaker 5 (25:58):
On both sides.

Speaker 1 (25:59):
She had to red satin kimono sleeves and a long
satin red satin skirt that opened up in the front
with black patent leather boots and as she walked down
the runway, this fabric just floated.

Speaker 3 (26:12):
You know.

Speaker 1 (26:12):
She moved the sleeves around and she looked magical. It
was very like in those martial arts films where you
see like the martial artists and their sleeves are flowing everywhere.
It was very that and I think it was almost
in a in a nod to her martial arts training,
because she is a Olympian level taekwondo artists.

Speaker 5 (26:33):
Yeah, so she could fuck you up.

Speaker 3 (26:35):
That's a great that's a great way to you know,
pay amit, you know.

Speaker 5 (26:39):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:40):
Enter her heritage because she is Japanese, Filipino, Puerto Rican, German,
and she combines all those elements and a little bit
of everything, a little bit of everything. Heine's fifty seven
Lux Noir London. Michelle introduced Herry going London, Milan, New Jersey.

(27:01):
There was an artist in the nineteen twenties that used
to do illustrations for the Zigfeld follies and they're called
Zigfeld Girls and artists. Was a French artist named air Ta,
and that's what this reminded me of.

Speaker 5 (27:11):
She looks like a show girl.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
From the twenties. It's a pink bodice, like a light
pink bodice on top that's almost kind of opal essence.
That had a train skirt in the back, pink satin pumps,
and then these feathers that came out from the waist
and kind of like two arcs four arcs of feathers.

(27:33):
So delicate, and a matching featherheaddress. Her hair was like
sculpted like a nineteen thirties movie star. She looked like
she weighed like ten pounds coming down the runway, so delicate.
She's a young queen and this was a young look
and it was on brand for her, and she just

(27:54):
looked slowly pretty beautiful look. Yeah, you know, and you
consider that this is a kid who I referred to
her as a kid because I'm old, and this is
somebody who started as a drag queen on Instagram and
was doing all of this stuff during the pandemic. But
she's done her homework. She's put in the work, you know,
so amazing. Next was his mistress isoks okay, this is okay.

(28:21):
I had to write down what this down fabric looked like.
It is iridescent coral neoprene. Now, neoprene is like it's
that fabric that people you know, those wet suits that people.

Speaker 5 (28:36):
Wear when they go surfing.

Speaker 1 (28:38):
Yes, now imagine that in a coral Imagine that in
an iridescent Imagine that shaped into a mermaid fishtail gown.
And that's what Mistress Isabelle Brooks did here. It's completely hourglass.
She's cinched for the gods, She's wearing opera gloves, she
has her signature Mistress Isabelle Brooks, beat with that white

(29:03):
eyeshadow that kind of bumps up her eyes. She has
an auburn upd. This is pageantry, This is miscontinental. Plus,
this was breathtaking in person, it.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
Was I mean just the pictures, she looks gorgeous. Yeah,
she's another person that knows her body and she knows
the material that she can get away with, yep, to
make her body even look just a little bit more fit,
a little more.

Speaker 4 (29:29):
You know.

Speaker 1 (29:30):
It's like how you can be a big girl and
still serve complete hourglass. May West, you know, she did
this as breathtaking. Last, but not least, in the season
fifteen runway is Sasha Coolby and she came out trend
alert everybody's doing a lot of lingerie. She did a

(29:50):
lingerie version of Audrey Hepburn's Ascot Day dress from My
Fair Lady, This kind of Victorian era gown with a
very elegant plumage on top, like a beautiful hat, but
it's all done in red head to toe red. She
had a long, full length gown made out of tool

(30:14):
so it was completely see through. She had a little
parasol with her that was all kind of you know,
wrapped up and closed. She came out the audience with
bananas and you can't hear this on the audio, but
when she tapped that parasol three times one, two three, everybody.

Speaker 5 (30:30):
Just went, oh wow, crazy.

Speaker 3 (30:33):
It was crazy.

Speaker 2 (30:34):
It was looks on look out of the four, who's
your favorite? The top four?

Speaker 1 (30:38):
Out of the top four, I think for me, wow,
it's hard to choose, but I'm all about performance and
impact live and it was Sasha for me.

Speaker 4 (30:49):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (30:49):
There was something about Sasha coming to the stage that
it was just kind of like she's channeling some kind
of ancient spirit.

Speaker 5 (30:57):
Yeah, that everybody could feel, you.

Speaker 1 (31:00):
Know it looks on looks And I don't know if
you've ever been when I saw Prince at the BET Awards,
and when he walked onto the stage, the presence that
he brought with him was I was like, there's something
happening here that's not quite human, that's a little magical.

Speaker 4 (31:17):
You know.

Speaker 1 (31:17):
I don't know if you've had that experience. You've probably
had that experience watching people perform live. You go to
a lot of live things, and she brought that energy
with her on stage that there was something magical about her,
not quite I.

Speaker 2 (31:29):
Think it has a lot to do with you know,
if you look at all of the episodes and what
we've been going through the experience, you cannot pay for
the type of experience that she has had to go through. Yeah,
being prepared, and I think that's what you see throughout
all of her performances, through each and every episode. But

(31:49):
this one being the finale, you have to step it up.
It's like, this is your last chance. And it's real
easy for people to assume that, oh, I got it
in the bag and not and and we're going to
talk about it a little bit, you know, down the road,
down further. But it's real easy for people to you know,

(32:09):
think I got it in the bag, and then they
ease up and then someone else can come because people
got to remember the final say is with Mama Roue.

Speaker 5 (32:20):
Is what Mama Ruth says.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
And watching Sasha enter and do her runway also, you
know live everything is longer. They have to cut it
for that right, right for the broadcast. Watching her enter,
I could see her not letting up. I could see
in her eyes since I'm still competing, I'm still it
could It's still anybody's game at this.

Speaker 2 (32:38):
That's a true competitor. She is a true, true, true competitor.

Speaker 3 (32:43):
So we got our looks.

Speaker 2 (32:45):
Rue Paul comes with the entrance and courage to Love performance.

Speaker 1 (32:49):
Tell me about her out for her out that Oh
my gosh, this is my favorite part of seeing the
finale is always seeing Roue make the entrance and all
she does is walk forward step touching two and four
and the place has a collective stroke And it's because
of who she is and how much she's introduced as

(33:13):
the mother of the House of Love. Everybody unanimously stands
up like to almost like we're paying homage. And Rue
comes out. She's in another Azaldi gown. It's in canary yellow,
which looks great against her skin. She has our high
platinum RuPaul wig. And this gown has a gold ribbon

(33:35):
that snakes it swayed down from her left shoulder to
her right waist and then all the way down it
kind of circles her and kind of zigzags all the
way down her body, almost like she's like a gold
ribbon winner. But the ribbon is played so strategically and
it catches the light everywhere she moves. She's surrounded by

(33:56):
these hot dancers dancers in person. Again, every time they
yell cut. I would yell at the top of my
lungs to the dancer of the fire Life, I love
you hot hot boys, and Rue Paul just kind of
takes it in. But there's something about her that when
she turns on Rue Paul, she's turning on this presence
that I was talking about earlier. But she's also not

(34:17):
taking herself serious.

Speaker 3 (34:18):
Yeah, she appreciates.

Speaker 2 (34:20):
You know, I've never seen a person because after fifteen seasons,
a person could you know, get tired or they like
like when is saying yeah in fun. I have never
seen RuPaul phone it in like you know, ever, And
that's the reason why. And I think, especially now with
what's going on in the country people are even more

(34:44):
appreciative of Rue Paul now and the things that's happening
because you know, I can remember when Drag Race first started,
and I can remember before the Emmys, you know, it
was you know, we're like, is he gonna lie? This
show gonna happen? You know, nobody's gonna watch. And then

(35:04):
when you see now it's season fifteen and you see
the elevation. Everybody has elevated and this is like something
so I'm just so happy for Rupe, me too, and
so deserving.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
And it started out as this low budget, you know
thing that was filmed in the basement of World of Wonder.
I mean it was like I think the first grand
prize was like ten thousand bucks and a tour with
Absolute that was sponsored by Absolute. And then now it's
two hundred thousand dollars and it's a global phenomenon. Ruth
came out and made the announcement that now more than ever,

(35:41):
drag is about love and it's about freedom and ask
the audience to contribute to the aclused Drag Defense Fund.

Speaker 2 (35:49):
This is why it's important for us, and I'm glad
that Rue uses this platform. You know, if we're wanted
to be scared and say no, no, no, we just
let us do our little no no, no, Right, we're
gonna work with people. We're gonna use this platform to
spread it. And so we hear about the A c
OU Drag Defense Fund. We want everyone to donate as

(36:09):
much as they can, and we hear about it throughout
the whole episode. The other judges there, Michelle Carson, Ross
Ts Madison and the Maxi Challenge. Ruth says that the
top four will perform original solo numbers inspired by their charisma, uniqueness, nerve,
and talent, and in the end, two queens who impress

(36:30):
Miss RuPaul the most will go head to head in
toe to toe in the final lip scene for the crime.
We're gonna keep talking about it. We're gonna keep fighting,
just like the A C O You. But we're gonna
take a quick break and we'll be right.

Speaker 5 (36:43):
Back and we're back Lonnie again.

Speaker 1 (36:53):
If you want to donate to the a cl you
will find out about the A c l You Drag
Fund go to a CLU dot org. Now it's time
for the solo performances.

Speaker 3 (37:02):
I was so excited.

Speaker 1 (37:03):
Yeah, the very first time I ever saw the solo
performances was Bob the Drag Queen's season where World of
Wonder wrote these individual songs that fit all of the personalities,
and Bob the Drag Queens was I don't want to
show off hilarious. So this season wasn't any different. Well,
it was different in that they wrote custom songs for

(37:24):
all the queens, and Anietzsche came out and sang a
song called Lotus, and I wrote down some of the lyrics.
In Buddhist culture, they say the lotus blooms in the
muddiest of water. It has to start out in the mud.
And I think, right before what's love got to do
with it? Starring Angela Bassett, there was this quote, let

(37:46):
me get it right.

Speaker 4 (37:49):
Okay, loadus what Okay, you know what, Grandpa, Grandpapa.

Speaker 1 (37:55):
Okay, here it is here it is okay, Sorry, The
lotus flower blooms most beautifully from the deepest, deepest mud.
That is a Buddhist saying, meaning that you can only
get this bloom by going through the deepest, darkest stuff.

Speaker 3 (38:08):
Oh so you said that three times? Okay, I got it?

Speaker 5 (38:12):
Okay, Sorry, Sorry.

Speaker 1 (38:14):
Did I ever tell you about the time I was
in Las Vegas and these black women talk to me
in the elevator.

Speaker 3 (38:20):
A Nieture performed the song. Yeah, it was a song looking.

Speaker 1 (38:23):
At it Live, so beautiful, and she came out in
this cat suit that she's a stunt queen, so she
needed an outfit that she could do stunts. And so
she is in a white glittered cat suit that is
like it's stoned and it was covered in lotuses, you know,
and she sings the song about the lotus.

Speaker 5 (38:43):
She sings the song.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
Was kind of surprised that she didn't duck walk as
much as I thought.

Speaker 1 (38:48):
I know, I know, But the lyrics in her song
was to reflect her journey this season was my story
is the story where I felt all the shame.

Speaker 5 (38:57):
My story is the story where.

Speaker 1 (38:59):
I can't beat the pain. But my story doesn't end
with me fading away. I'm going to reach for the
light like a lotus.

Speaker 5 (39:06):
Just beautiful.

Speaker 3 (39:07):
That is just beautiful. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (39:09):
After her song, RuPaul does a little question and answer,
you know what. RuPaul asked Anitra what her superpower was,
and then they cut to Alec.

Speaker 1 (39:22):
The audience to me and the audience.

Speaker 2 (39:25):
First of all, you started the what is your superpower?

Speaker 4 (39:29):
Right?

Speaker 3 (39:30):
Soone's been listening to the podcast because I was.

Speaker 5 (39:34):
Like, wait, anybody's listening to podcast ru Paul.

Speaker 1 (39:37):
If you listen to the podcast and you got that
from there, You're welcome and I love you. That was
like kind of like a coincidence.

Speaker 5 (39:47):
I don't think so.

Speaker 1 (39:48):
And she said her superpower was leaping over women.

Speaker 3 (39:52):
With BFA's it was so funny in reference.

Speaker 1 (39:56):
To her lip sync with Marsha Marsha Marshall where they
did Doja Cat's boss.

Speaker 2 (39:59):
Also her was there and that was a great moment.
If they showed her dad trying on her wigs. He was,
I mean, it's nothing like having a supportive parent. And
you saw that, you saw the pride that he had
for an I mean, oh, oh beautiful. And he said
he couldn't dug walk because he has bad needs.

Speaker 3 (40:19):
I'm like, I feel you, dad, I.

Speaker 1 (40:22):
Mean yeah, you would have to have pretty strong knees
to do any kind of movement like a Nitra did.
Seeing it live was just celebratory and great. I won't
talk about the lotus anymore. I just wanted to get
it right.

Speaker 3 (40:34):
I got you, I got you up.

Speaker 2 (40:37):
Next was lux Her song is It's Giving Fast.

Speaker 1 (40:41):
It's Giving Fashion and Lux came out in like again,
a reference to Rue Paul Rue Paul when she did
the Viva Glam lipstick campaign I believe in the nineties
she was in red Patent leather from head to toe,
like a red pat leather corset, red pat leather boots,
and Lux came out in a similar and her song
was It's Giving Fashion. The chorus kept on saying, keep

(41:06):
the cameras flashing, It's giving Fashion. And it was so catchy.
It was like an instant earworm. It sounded like a
club song already. It was so much fun.

Speaker 2 (41:14):
It was great and her family, her boyfriend was there
and her mom was there.

Speaker 3 (41:18):
Was so good to see her mom.

Speaker 2 (41:20):
She also said her creativity and confidence comes from her family,
and when they asked her mom, she says, well, I
think it's from my mom, and then I think it's
from me too, and her dad and the room was like, yeah,
nobody's modest in his family.

Speaker 1 (41:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (41:35):
I thought it was really cute, But I love that.

Speaker 1 (41:37):
They instilled that confidence in her. You know, Lux is
already responding to the haters online and said if I
came across as cocky and over confident, she goes, that
was my point you have to be cocky and over
confident to be a black drag queen, and she brought it.
I mean you think about the confidence it takes to
put on those outfits and go out to the stage

(41:58):
and perform. She has it, and she brought it to
the stage.

Speaker 2 (42:01):
Next up, a tribute to Bob Mackie. I love this,
I love this. This is something new correct giving us
Lifetime Achievement Award.

Speaker 1 (42:12):
Giving us Lifetime Achievement Award to Bob McKie. For those
of you who don't know, Bob Mackie is a legendary
costume designer. How legendary he designed every single gown and
costume for the Calburnett Show.

Speaker 2 (42:25):
And share he did share for Sonny and share those
sexy outfits and share all.

Speaker 1 (42:33):
Yeah, Tina Turner and Margaret and it just keeps going
and going to the point where people are still wearing
Bob McKie gowns. Today they showed Zendia on the red carpet.
They showed all these pop stars still wearing Bob Mackie.
And to have this amount of longevity and to still
be like all these years later, a six decade career,

(42:54):
to have people still going it's an original Bob McKie,
you know, and on top of all of them that
he's the nicest, nicest man. He was the very first
celebrity guest judge on RuPaul's Drag Race. I remember one
summer I was performing in Provincetown and I saw him
on the street and he couldn't be anybody else.

Speaker 5 (43:12):
I fan girled and said, oh my god, I'm your
biggest fan.

Speaker 1 (43:16):
And I said, I'm performing at town Hall tonight, I'm
doing stand up and he said I'll go.

Speaker 5 (43:21):
So when people say that, I'm like, okay, sure you'll go.
All right, I'll see you later. He came. He came
to the show.

Speaker 1 (43:27):
Wow, And I was so moved by how lovely and
how genuine and generous he was. He didn't have to
do that. He could have come to my show and
I could have stank up the joint.

Speaker 4 (43:38):
You know.

Speaker 1 (43:38):
He didn't ever see me perform live before. And so
he's a lovely person and unbelievably talent, and it was
great to see his lifetime of work acknowledged in this way.

Speaker 2 (43:49):
And this is how you honor and you give flowers
to people, and so I was so happy that Rue
Paul decided giving us Lifetime Achievement Award.

Speaker 3 (43:58):
Up next was Mistress isabel Works.

Speaker 5 (44:03):
Her song was Delusion.

Speaker 1 (44:05):
She's like, I'm here to clear all the confusion.

Speaker 5 (44:08):
I'm the solution to your drag delusion. Oh it's she
was so good.

Speaker 1 (44:12):
She came out almost like in Fetish War, you know,
and a lot of fetishes, they have a white patent
leather nurses outfit h and that's what she wore. She
came out a white patent leather trench coat to reveal
a naughty nurse outfit underneath, and she had a nurse's
hat that had m I B on it. Isabelle Brooks

(44:36):
so great. She had a fantastic choerography, and all of
the dancers lifted her like that.

Speaker 3 (44:42):
I was like, whoa, yeah, you know, as a big girl,
I'm like and they did it.

Speaker 1 (44:48):
And many twitch they lifted her while she was doing
the splits. So it's kind of like, if you're a
big girl, then what's your excuse? It's like she it
was like, this is why I love drag, because it's
like I can be big and sexy and beautiful and

(45:09):
the queen of the party. I can turn the party
being the shape that I am being a big girl.
It doesn't matter.

Speaker 2 (45:15):
But she has found a way to do the splits though,
because you noticed she does the running splits. Yeah, where
she runs and then she puts her leg out and
it flies on the floor and I was like, whoa.

Speaker 1 (45:26):
And its Yeah, she defies gravity and what she I
mean when you see her do that on the television
show when she runs into the splits and she has
a fist pumping into the air, just so you do
that live to be lifted in the splits, I mean,
I would have broken a hip.

Speaker 2 (45:43):
There's no way, she says, she actually held back on
this show as far as her acting up.

Speaker 3 (45:48):
Do you believe that? I don't know what how shady
can you get? How much shadier?

Speaker 1 (45:54):
I know, But it's a thing of like, I think
what made Mistress so compelling this season was there are
other girls giving pageant answers or diplomatic answer to things. Yeah,
and Mistress is one of those people that if you
don't want to hear in my opinion, don't ask me.

Speaker 5 (46:10):
Yeah, if you want to hear the truth.

Speaker 1 (46:12):
And also she would call out stuff around her. You know,
she would call out stuff like, oh that's fake. Oh,
that's totally fake, or she would roll her eyes and
it was I felt like it was candid, but I
never felt like the intention was mean.

Speaker 2 (46:25):
I felt like she was the energy of the show.
She gave us the drama that we needed, she gave
us the comedy, she gave us the reads, and she's
that person, you know, very captivating. Her drag mom Chevelle
Brooks Yes said that she made everyone proud and also
Mistress talked about the importance of drag families when yeah,

(46:47):
you know, we forget I guess it irritates me because
people who are so called straight people and they look
at other people and they don't understand the problems that
that person is going through and they don't have empathy
for them. A lot of kids, when they decide to

(47:07):
come out, they're rejected by their families. And we've talked
about this before and we talk about how you can
hopefully get a drag family and they can take you in,
and it's so important to be able.

Speaker 3 (47:19):
To have that because where else can you go?

Speaker 5 (47:22):
Right, you know, we kind of saw that played out
on the series.

Speaker 1 (47:25):
Pose It's like a lot of the trans kids or
a lot of baby drag queens I was in the
show with a trans girl who said the importance of
drag families. She said, I had no place to go
because my mother kicked me out of the house, and
my drag mother took me in, fed me, taught me
a trade, taught me a trade that became my livelihood,

(47:50):
you know, and and all of a sudden, I had
a way to pay the bills and I had a
way to become independent after my own family rejected me.
And she said that even though she doesn't live in
Tennessee anymore. My friend Calpernia, she says that when she
sees her drag family in Nashville, they call each other
up and they can pick up exactly where they left off. So,

(48:11):
I mean, they really do become your family. You go
to the gigs with them, you hang out, watch television,
you go out to the clubs afterwards, you eat together,
you support each other. So it really does become the
people who look out after you.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
And it's nice because when you do an event like this,
you know, to be able to have somebody to sit there,
you know what I mean, right, you want somebody. I mean,
you have some people their moms. You're lucky enough, like
lux to have your mom, you know, and need true
to have your dad.

Speaker 3 (48:41):
Everybody doesn't have that, so it's kind of you.

Speaker 1 (48:44):
Do you ever see those Instagram videos of like a
preschooler who's in the school play or at the school
assembly or the winter Christmas concert and they're walking out
on stage and they can't see their parents, you know,
they can't see them. They kind of look kind of
worried or sad, and all of a sudden they see
their mom or dad away from the audience and it
lights up, you know, And it's that part of us
that never goes away, that wants to be loved and accepted.

(49:06):
That you're special to me, You matter to me. You're
not somebody who can be thrown away and discarded like
a piece of trash. You know.

Speaker 5 (49:15):
It's like you matter, and.

Speaker 1 (49:17):
That's what makes people come alive, and that's what makes
life worth living, are the people who care about you.

Speaker 5 (49:23):
So I'm getting sentimental, almost cry for the world.

Speaker 2 (49:27):
Last, but not least is Sasha Colby and her song
is Goddess Goddess.

Speaker 1 (49:33):
She says g O D D E s s that
bitch is a goddess. She's not being modest. She came
out kind of like Adam and Eve glitter sneak.

Speaker 2 (49:47):
You know.

Speaker 1 (49:47):
She had this long kind of almost like a sleeve
that was green glitter that held her legs together right
as she came out, and so she was like a
long green snake, which was a look actually that Bob
Mackie did for Share on the Sonny and Share show
years ago. Yeah, she did it and you could see
it online. So she comes out, carried out by all
the dancers, and before they put her down, they strip

(50:09):
off the snake skin and she has a new Delusion
bodysuit under it serving body YadA yadi, and there's green
glitter leaves strategically placed all over her. So she almost
looks naked, right, and she comes out and she had braids.

Speaker 2 (50:27):
All over her.

Speaker 3 (50:28):
Yeah, she had the jumbo braids.

Speaker 1 (50:29):
These heavy jumbo braids that she just whipped around so beautiful.

Speaker 2 (50:35):
It was a different type of look and it was
It was very good, she says. The best part is
meeting the fans and parents who love drags. Yeah, you know,
it was just nice to you know who was there
for her.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
She had her artist friends from Hawaii who supported her,
and she said she had a sister from Hawaii as well.
RuPaul brought up you said, you use the word mahu
during the season, and what does mahu mean? And she said,
Maho is from the Hawaiian culture. It means the third gender.
And in ancient Hawaiian cultures they were revered, Like in

(51:09):
Native American cultures, they're called the two spirit people, people
who possess both.

Speaker 5 (51:12):
Masculine and feminine energies.

Speaker 1 (51:14):
And they said in the Mahu cultures they gave the
children to they were looked after by all the Mahu
people because who better to teach the children about the
culture and what it means to live on this earth
and how to be a compassionate person. Then somebody possesses
both masculine and feminine energy.

Speaker 5 (51:29):
Wow, what could be more divine?

Speaker 3 (51:31):
We're just learning so much.

Speaker 1 (51:33):
It was beautiful because it was kind of like she
kind of said, you know, I'm both drag and trans.
I'm a drag queen and I'm a transwoman, and both
those things are under attack right now.

Speaker 5 (51:43):
And in ancient Hawaiian.

Speaker 1 (51:44):
Cultures we were revered, you know, and ancient cultures, you know,
pre colonial cultures before people showed up, these ancient Aboriginal
cultures ancient native cultures all had these cultures of about
nature because nature is both masculine and feminine, you know.
It was like the wind in the earth isn't just
one thing. It's both powerful and feminine, you know, the

(52:06):
ability to create and receive.

Speaker 4 (52:07):
You know.

Speaker 2 (52:08):
It's just society, Alec, It's just society and people that
are afraid and they want things done their way, you know,
and half of the time they doing the same thing
we doing. People tell me not to drink and were
sitting up there, you catch them in a bar.

Speaker 3 (52:22):
It's like, yeah, yeah, people need people along.

Speaker 1 (52:26):
I know that kind of like I think the prejudice
is there's only one way of doing things, and it's like,
that's just not the way the world works.

Speaker 3 (52:33):
No, it's not at all.

Speaker 4 (52:34):
You know.

Speaker 2 (52:34):
Now we come to the point of the show where
you have the four wonderful performances but to have to
be let go and you find out that Sasha, Kobe
and Anietzsra make it to the final lift seat for
the crown. I just want to say to Lux and
to Mistress, they had a phenomenal, phenomenal season. We wouldn't

(52:56):
have been able to have the season we had if
it wasn't for their energy, their creativity and there we're
going to see so much more of these queens.

Speaker 3 (53:06):
So it's not a loss. It is not a loss
at all.

Speaker 1 (53:09):
Absolutely, And they brought two different things to the season.
You know, Mistress Isabelle said, I want to bring old
school drag.

Speaker 5 (53:15):
I want you to show you where it comes from.

Speaker 1 (53:17):
I want to bring that, you know, to a national stage,
and looks kind of represented the newer generation of queens
coming up.

Speaker 3 (53:24):
Now you were there. How was the energy once it
was announced?

Speaker 5 (53:27):
They look pissed.

Speaker 3 (53:31):
Those two I saw. I saw the look on mistresses.

Speaker 1 (53:34):
Yeah, Mistress was just kind of like, you know, they
were mad, but because this means something to them and
they take this very seriously, but it's you know, it's
it was honest.

Speaker 3 (53:47):
It was.

Speaker 1 (53:47):
It was kind of reminder of Angela Bassett at the
Oscar is kind of like, I'm not happy about this
four p ten.

Speaker 2 (53:54):
But you know what when I did Star Search, miw
moons Ago stared that's right. And I got all the
way up to the grand finale one hundred thousand dollars
and it was between me and this other guy and
they announced his name. I had already prepared for it,
and I had said to myself, I will lose gracefully.

(54:17):
And that's not everybody.

Speaker 3 (54:18):
I know.

Speaker 2 (54:19):
I get it because everybody is different and that's what
we support. But I can look back on that and say,
I'm so proud because I wanted to stump the fuck off.

Speaker 5 (54:31):
Because yeah, you didn't show your ass on stars.

Speaker 1 (54:36):
I try to think about, you know, what I would
do in that position, and I think I as an
older persons, as a person who's been doing this for
a minute, I'm filled with so much gratitude for every
opportunity to be seen anywhere, you know. And I still
walk through the world, like I said at the beginning,
when I'm surrounded by celebrities, I'm always pleasantly surprised when
they're like, hey.

Speaker 2 (54:57):
Alec, when you're in a compettion alley and waiting and
you gotta see. That's the thing, too, is the build
up you're waiting for them. They're going to see a name, yeah,
and you're like.

Speaker 1 (55:09):
Okay, it's like testing for a pilot, you know. It's
like when there's four of you up for the part
and only one of you is gonna get it, you know,
And that's happened to me. I'm not gonna lie to you.
It doesn't feel good, but it's one of those things.
It's radical acceptance. What can you do about it? I
can radically accept this. It doesn't mean I like it,
but it's how.

Speaker 2 (55:28):
You handle it. Because the whole world is watching. That's
something too that I always I always tell people, I
know it's hard, but just remember the whole world is.

Speaker 5 (55:39):
And you know who gets that. Rue Paul gets that.

Speaker 1 (55:41):
I could see her throughout the taping, throughout the life taping,
knowing that I could be recorded at any moment, I
could be you know, if something doesn't go right, you know,
shake it off, if something's taking a little longer than
it should, don't act pissed about it. Like there was
so much toys and so much grace, and also an

(56:02):
awareness of the world.

Speaker 2 (56:03):
Is watching, definitely, and you know what's watching this break
is watching us. So we'll be right back because we've
got more to cover, and we'll do it right after.

Speaker 5 (56:12):
This, and we're back.

Speaker 1 (56:21):
We're here with Lonnie Love, Almost Winners, Star Search.

Speaker 4 (56:27):
What a Good Sport, What a Good Lost gracefully and
we continue with these performances we had Leland and Raville Pet.

Speaker 2 (56:35):
They did a wonderful performance built on drag and also
wig loose.

Speaker 3 (56:40):
It was just great. How was that live?

Speaker 5 (56:42):
So much fun? It was just so much fun.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
And also it was like it was a number that
involved all of the queens on stage and everything. And
they did their very moving ballad that Anetra saying during
the wig Loose competition, you know, everything was built on drag.
All the freedoms that we now celebrate, all the rights
that we have, they were built on drag. And then
they broke out into Wigloose, which they sang which is
very very catchy.

Speaker 2 (57:04):
Then we had Willow Peel return for her last time
as the current raining queen.

Speaker 3 (57:10):
Yeah, what was it like?

Speaker 1 (57:12):
Return to Yeah, Willow and Cornbread. Willow came out looking
like a willow tree, like a weeping willow tree, but
made out of flowers.

Speaker 5 (57:20):
It was so beautiful.

Speaker 1 (57:23):
And Cornbread did a Beauty and the Beast look last
year where she kind of did a face application almost
like a rubber bask where she was beauty and the
beast like combined. And this year she came out like
a drag version of the Cowardly Lion and the Wiz.

Speaker 3 (57:38):
Yeah, she was like Lion King.

Speaker 5 (57:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (57:41):
Like Cornbread did an original rap about the season.

Speaker 1 (57:45):
Fifteen queens Yes, named each of them by name in
the rap, which I thought was so cool.

Speaker 3 (57:51):
That was so creative and cool.

Speaker 2 (57:53):
And the queens had voted for Miss Congeniality and the winner.

Speaker 1 (57:58):
Was Malaysia Baby Doll Fox. She went ten thousand dollars,
presented by ol A Body, and then Cornbread does the
additional announcement that all the other queen's, courtesy of ol
A Body, also get two thousand dollars.

Speaker 3 (58:12):
That was nice.

Speaker 1 (58:14):
I mean, come on, you know, just participation trophy, but
better than that because that's two thousand bucks.

Speaker 5 (58:21):
What about you?

Speaker 1 (58:22):
But buddy, is money two thousand bucks to get me
out of a couple jams right now. I'm not gonna
turn my nose up at that. And then the showstopper,
Jinx Monsoon, who just was on Broadway in Chicago. Yes,
and she increased sales so much in Chicago. She was
only supposed to play like I think six to eight weeks.

(58:42):
They added two more weeks to her run because there
were so many people, because that show's been running for
more than twenty years. But she increased ticket sales so
much because people wanted to hear her perform live. She
came out and sang her number from Chicago when you get.

Speaker 2 (58:57):
To Mama, Oh, I love that song. Yeah, I wanted to.
I want it so bad to go down there and
see you. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (59:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (59:05):
And that song is what Queen Latifah saying in the
movie where she was Not Made for an Oscar. And
what was so great about that is right after she's
saying it. Also, seeing her sing it live, it's like
Sun deniable. She's so talented, it's bananas. It's like she
took her talent. She told RuPaul that drag gave her
a pathway to becoming successful.

Speaker 5 (59:27):
It gave her a pathway.

Speaker 1 (59:28):
And I got to give you this quote because I
think this quote applies to stand up comics, dancers, singers,
artists of any kind.

Speaker 3 (59:36):
She saves me.

Speaker 1 (59:37):
When you know who you're supposed to be and you
fight for your ability to be that, and when you
be that, it's who you're supposed to be.

Speaker 5 (59:46):
Does that make sense?

Speaker 3 (59:47):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (59:48):
When you know who you're supposed to.

Speaker 1 (59:49):
Be and you fight for your ability to be that,
and when you who are that, where you become that,
it's who you're supposed to be.

Speaker 3 (59:54):
Yeah, yeah, it makes sense.

Speaker 1 (59:56):
Yeah, it's the journey from your imagination into making your
dreams come true.

Speaker 3 (01:00:00):
And it's like, it's great.

Speaker 1 (01:00:01):
And when your dreams come true, it's like you were
supposed to be Lennie Love you know, you were supposed
to be this performer and I love that.

Speaker 2 (01:00:08):
And so then we see this clip in twenty thirteen
of Jink saying her dream is to perform in.

Speaker 3 (01:00:13):
Drag on Broadway.

Speaker 2 (01:00:16):
How great is that that they had that clip and
then here we are today.

Speaker 1 (01:00:21):
I know she's dreams come true. And then to have
that moment lead up to the final lip sync for
the Crown. Oh okay, this is the last chance to impress.

Speaker 5 (01:00:32):
Rue and Rove through the world that they are.

Speaker 1 (01:00:34):
America's next drag superstar.

Speaker 3 (01:00:36):
Okay, can I just say and.

Speaker 2 (01:00:41):
Squirrel friends, if you go back and look when you
see Ru Paul say and don't fuck it up, you
see two heads pop to the side of Rue Paul's show.

Speaker 3 (01:00:58):
Show their angels. YEP, one of them.

Speaker 1 (01:01:02):
Is me because I saw the camera aimed at Rue
Paul and I saw her saying that, and I saw
I wasn't in frame. So one of the things that
I was taught when I first came to town was touch
the money, meaning that if you're seen with the star
next to the star, then you're gonna be in the thing.
So I saw that Ru's wig was blocking me in

(01:01:25):
my seat, so I just moved down to the side
so I.

Speaker 3 (01:01:28):
Could be seen at the shot.

Speaker 2 (01:01:31):
Squirrel, friends, if you didn't catch it, you will see
the little head, the glasses, the silver hair.

Speaker 3 (01:01:39):
That's our alley. That's his moment.

Speaker 5 (01:01:42):
He would have done it too. You would have done
it too.

Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
You would have picked up so.

Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
You Yeah, you would have seen my wig and everything
that would have been I would have been.

Speaker 3 (01:01:50):
I would have stood up. See you were you were kind,
I would have stood up.

Speaker 5 (01:01:55):
Do you know what?

Speaker 1 (01:01:55):
I didn't want them to go cut somebody's acting the
fall on the back of room. We can't use this,
so I tried to do it as suddly as I can.
But if you look closely, you know, if you see
it for the first time, you're not going to notice it.
But if you look really.

Speaker 5 (01:02:07):
Closely, you'll see me being a complete idiot.

Speaker 3 (01:02:09):
Awesome though it was, it was really really awesome. So yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
The final lip sing song was knock on Wood Bye,
Amy Store.

Speaker 5 (01:02:17):
I love that song.

Speaker 3 (01:02:19):
I love that song. Okay, let's talk about this lipstick.

Speaker 1 (01:02:22):
All right. Anita came out in a new Delusion catsuit
and a platinum blonde kind of gaga wig, and she
had a heart emblazoned over her heart. And Sasha Kolby
came out in like a giant puffer coat that was
in the shape trend alert of a Mermaid gown.

Speaker 5 (01:02:39):
She takes off.

Speaker 1 (01:02:40):
The Mermaid popper coat to reveal like a Jessica Rabbit
type dress, purple sequence, and her hair's in an updo,
very elegant updo. She looks like a showgirl and serving body.

Speaker 5 (01:02:52):
YadA YadA, YadA, yadda.

Speaker 3 (01:02:54):
She's not done.

Speaker 5 (01:02:55):
She's not done.

Speaker 1 (01:02:56):
And that was like amazing enough. And Anita's doing her kicks,
she's doing her duck walk. But what does Sasha do.
She pulls out a rod that looks like just a
single rod in the middle of her gown, and the
front of her gown separates and she's practically naked. I'm
wearing she's wearing a g string. She's wearing almost like

(01:03:18):
what looks like pasties over a transparent like bikini top,
and her body is just I'm getting chills just thinking
about it.

Speaker 5 (01:03:27):
And this is what I noticed too, Lonnie.

Speaker 1 (01:03:29):
Right before the lip SyncE started, I saw Sasha Kolby
close her eyes and kind of take a deep breath
and get into the zone. And when she opened her eyes,
she was gone. Whatever it is that she calls upon
to perform was this.

Speaker 2 (01:03:42):
Is what got me towards it, because for a minute there,
I'm like a nietzschro might have.

Speaker 3 (01:03:47):
This at the beginning.

Speaker 2 (01:03:49):
Yeah, but Sasha Kobe was so good at that lip
scene that she was building up and it wasn't just
the reveal when she took that cod and she got
on it and started making it like it.

Speaker 5 (01:04:04):
Was a Playboy photo shoot.

Speaker 1 (01:04:06):
Oh.

Speaker 2 (01:04:07):
I was like, she gave you four different looks. Yeah, yeah,
in less than two minutes.

Speaker 1 (01:04:13):
The audience was screaming, Oh, they couldn't believe it, and
you know, they had to keep cutting back to a
Niattra audio show to.

Speaker 5 (01:04:22):
Kind of show the two different personances.

Speaker 1 (01:04:24):
But it's I know, and a Nietzcha is so talented
and so fantastic, but it was kind of like, okay,
full disclosure, I'm watching it live and I'm like I
was afraid to look away from Sasha because I didn't
want to miss anything because.

Speaker 5 (01:04:37):
I was like, what's she gonna do next? Unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (01:04:42):
I mean, she pulled it up, Colts.

Speaker 3 (01:04:44):
She's shaking a photo shoot.

Speaker 5 (01:04:46):
I've never seen anybody take a dress off that way.

Speaker 2 (01:04:48):
When I saw a Nietra pull out the red pull out,
and I was like, Okay, she's gonna tear hers off,
And it was like, wait, a.

Speaker 1 (01:04:55):
Niature pulled this red satin ribbon out of the heart
like and then twirling it around her almost like rhythm
and just gymnastics. And again, she's undeniably talented, but you
were watching this going. That was the magic of seeing
it live. It was like being in church. It was
like when when everybody gets the spirit and everybody is

(01:05:17):
like screaming and hollering.

Speaker 5 (01:05:19):
It was magical.

Speaker 2 (01:05:20):
And we found out that the winner of Season fifteen,
Alec the winner of the Crown the two hundred thousand
dollars the year's supply of Anastasia Beverly Hills Cosmetics, America's
next Drag Superstar.

Speaker 5 (01:05:33):
Is Sasha Colby.

Speaker 1 (01:05:38):
Congrastulations to our winning queen, So well deserved and one
of the things that I loved that I got to
witness live at the taping. Was right before they did
that lip sync. I saw Anitra and Sasha Colby make
eye contact and wish each other good luck. So they're
not only both fantastic queens, they're both loving and good sports.

Speaker 5 (01:06:00):
It's great to witness.

Speaker 1 (01:06:01):
We'll be right back after this break, and we're back.
I still haven't let go of you not winning Star Search.
I'm pretty sorry about it. I mean, you and may
have moved on, but I haven't. We're back, squirrel friends,
and that's it. That is the season finale of season fifteen.

(01:06:24):
The Super Sweet sixteen really gave us a sickening season.
But we've got one more episode dropping, so keep an
eye on the podcast speed. We have some very very
special guest stars, sashaing By. You don't want to miss it, Lonnie.
Final thoughts on the finale.

Speaker 3 (01:06:44):
It was a great finale. I'm glad that it was live.

Speaker 2 (01:06:46):
I'm glad that you were able to give us the
behind the scenes scoop. So thank you, my friend. And
it's been a wonderful season fifteen doing this with you.

Speaker 3 (01:06:57):
So I've had.

Speaker 1 (01:06:58):
Buys, Lonnie. This is like the highlight of every week now.
If you love this season, you love the queens, remember
to tip your queens show them love on their socials.
We want to change and revolutionize the drag Race fandom.
Rue is the mother of the House of Love. Show
them love.

Speaker 2 (01:07:16):
Don't forget to tweet us or dm us if you
have questions or hot takes for the queens. Our social
handles are at Alec Mapa on Instagram. Please follow Alec
and at comic Lonnie Love on Instagram and at Lonnie
Love on Twitter.

Speaker 1 (01:07:32):
You can listen to Squirrel Friends, the Official RuPaul's Drag
Race podcast on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get
your podcasts now.

Speaker 2 (01:07:39):
If you like this episode, make sure to rate and
review us five stars.

Speaker 3 (01:07:42):
Please and tell a friend.

Speaker 1 (01:07:43):
Watch all new episodes of Rupulse Drag Race Season fifteen
every Friday on m g EV.

Speaker 2 (01:07:50):
We'll be back next time for an all new episode
of Squirrel Friends, the official Rupause Drag Race podcast season.

Speaker 1 (01:07:56):
We'll see you soon.

Speaker 5 (01:07:57):
Bye bye